A Darker Pride
by Rii Namuras
Summary: When Dooku takes on his first Padawan, he finds teaching a ten year old boy is not as easy as he thought it would be...


The lights were broken.

Blasted rundown ship, but it was the best that could be had under such... strenuous circumstances. It was better than nothing, to be sure, but all the same...

It _would_ be nice to be able to actually see.

"Qui-Gon, have you found anything yet? A _candle_ would be suitable at this point!" Jedi Master Dooku snapped at his apprentice, absentmindedly noting various flashing lights (_it would then_, he supposed, _not be _entirely _accurate to say one could not see a thing_), and fished in the near-dark for the appropriate switches. He couldn't tell which ones he found and which ones he didn't, but then the proximity alarm sounded and little red lights became of significant less concern.

"No, Master, not yet. I think we lost anything we might've had while we were being chased by the..." Qui-Gon paused to let the alarm fade into the background before sighing, "Oh, they've found us again, haven't they?"

?

Dooku didn't reply, and instead chose to focus all his energy on keeping the battered starship in flight. _Of course, the pursuing fighters are also very important, but it would all be a moot point if we just fall out of the sky, now wouldn't it?_

"How long before we can clear the atmosphere and head for hyperspace?" Qui-Gon joined Dooku farther up in the cockpit, the search for a light given up, momentarily at least. He flicked his eyes over the various display lights that gave their faces an eerily faint red glow, but he wasn't much for flying even without an alien dashboard design in the mix, and since the labels weren't in view Dooku was sure he had no idea what the warnings could possibly signify.

"Hard to say," Dooku grunted, twisting the yoke to hopefully put them out of the incoming fighter's line of fire, should they choose to open fire once in range. He was almost certain they would. "Maybe another fifteen minutes... if we do not burn up in the process."

"Is there... anything I can do to help?"

"Yes. You can stay _quiet_."

Qui-Gon sighed (_What wonderful manners_, Dooku thought sarcastically in annoyance,_ especially considering that this is all _his _fault_), and settled back into the copilot's chair, appearing to intend to just stay out of the way. But to Dooku's dismay he almost immediately changed his mind and turned his attention back to the warning lights. Unfortunately, even with a bit of concentration he met with just as much success as his last fleeting attempt. _He knows noth__ing about starship dashboards outside of the Temple's standard_, Dooku thought with distaste. I_'ll have to speak to the Master in__ charge of that area if - once we get back._

Seemingly tired of waiting (_After only a few minutes. Just barely_ five), Qui-Gon fumbled in his kit, hoping to find at least a little pin light to make things easier. Neither of them actually expected him to find anything - he had already searched a grand total of five dozen times - but the boy just couldn't _sit still_. _What_ is _it with children and hyperactivity?_ Certainly the horribly tense atmosphere, mixed with the sputtering rumbling of the engines and the headache-inducing flashing lights, was stressful, but you didn't see _Dooku_ fidgeting, did you?

"Sit... _still_!" Another swerve, this time accompanied by a spark of laser fire jumping out and falling just behind their battered ship. They were firing early, getting desperate. _This is not good_. Sparing a bit of attention that would be worth it in the long run, Dooku glanced in Qui-Gon's direction, having already guessed what the boy wanted to use the nonexistent pin light for. "And... don't touch anything."

Qui-Gon tried to obey, but soon Dooku saw that he found himself fidgeting ever so slightly again, glancing back as far as he could to track their pursuers' progress. They were gaining, Dooku confirmed, but then again, it's not like it was very hard thing to do...

_Just another ten minutes_, he told himself as they slowly neared the edge of the atmosphere. He could already feel the ship begin to shake - well, more than usual - and worried whether the pile of junk would be able to hold up in the coming minutes. He really, really, really hoped it would, but in Dooku's experience hoping didn't always quite work the way he hoped it would. He could feel the boy beside him hoping, too, which only made him want to hurriedly spit out a correction, but a burst of light rang out and the pursuing fighters _caught up_.

Qui-Gon shut his eyes, and Dooku felt the hope - again, most likely fruitless, but neither of them cared anymore - that it would help. Closed eyes didn't really impede his vision, but as Dooku had already known and taken advantage of, now that he wasn't trying to see, his other senses started realizing they needed to compensate for the darkness, and every stumble of the engines became like a sudden drop and a too-quick rise, the rumbling and saxons throbbing in his ears. _Maybe not the most pleasant experience for a child_, Dooku thought dryly, _but if it were not for that we would be planetside now._

Dooku felt the boy tentatively reach out to the Force. By anyone's standard he was an above average student - a great one, even, else why would Dooku have chosen him? - but he was short on real experience, and Dooku could tell the sensation under stress still felt strange. He could also tell that the boy could dimly feel Dooku's frustration and effort, starting to leak out from behind those mental walls he hadn't yet figured out how to pass. _And I intend to keep it that way, strenuous situation or no. My mind is no place for anyone to invade, much less a child._ The fighters were starting to shoot wide, and Dooku took the opportunity to refortify his mind.

"Prepare for - " Dooku glanced back distractedly at Qui-Gon, who was grabbing at the crash webbing and hurriedly buckling it. "And _why_ weren't you wearing that in the first pla - oh, never mind." He had had the foresight to check where the hyperdrive switches were before the lights went out, thank the Force. He quickly entered the coordinates for a nearby system, and soon the stars streamlined themselves and they were safely away, at least for the time being.

"Well, that was exciting."

Dooku just glared at him.

------

_In truth, it had been a rather harrowing experience,_ Dooku told himself firmly as Qui-Gon quietly ate dinner, pretending not to be shaken by the previous mission. After all, how many ten year old human boys got chased by local interplanetary authorities in a ship that was not meant to fly from one city to the next, much less in between planetary systems?

But _Jedi_ did, and that was precisely the problem (_Though perhaps not the part about the authorities_, he amended himself. _But rundown ships are not as uncommon as one may think_). Oh, yes, he was a green apprentice, that much was true. Dooku had chosen him only a few months before, and even then he was considerably younger than most apprentices are when they are chosen. But, well, the entire reason Dooku had chosen him in the first place was that he was not like other apprentices - certainly more gifted than the rest, with a very strong connection to the Force. Promising, indeed.

He rubbed his face. Whatever that mission was, it was stressful. The boy was utterly useless when it came to diplomacy, he saw now. Unfortunately, it wasn't a downfall he had the opportunity to predict, and it was coming back to bite him now. But a slip-up resulting into a system-wide chase only barely stopped after it's third hyperspace jump was still a bit below the standards Dooku would have placed on _any_ novice, much less _his_ Padawan. Truly, he had at first wanted to snap at the boy and scold him - harshly - for his mistake. Perhaps because he had no time to do so before reporting to the Council, he had been allowed to think through his reproach a bit more... thoroughly.

The failure was as painful as a gundark's embrace. And the report, that agonizingly long report, only smeared salt in his wound. To stand before Yoda and explain in detail how his apprentice, the Padawan Learner that he had personally singled out as the only one worthy of his attention, caused an entire system's fallout with the Republic. Oh yes, of course, diplomats were being sent right away to resolve the problem, but Dooku didn't like other people being sent to cover up his mistakes.

_Qui-Gon's mistake_, he corrected himself, with a faint twinge of surprise. _When did this become about me?_

_Oh, it does not matter_, he thought as he shook his head quietly in annoyance. W_hat matters now is to correct this mistake, and see that it is not made again._

"Padawan," he said mildly, to begin. He tried to not sound angry - that would not do any good, not for what he had planned, at any rate. He had no intention of going easy on the boy, but he still did not want to be harsh about it. He would not be the cruel Master.

Qui-Gon flinched. _So much for that plan._


End file.
